Spruce Grove Chamber calls for national Pharmacare

Spruce Grove Chamber calls for national Pharmacare

According to the Chamber, local businesses are asking the government to consider an approach to national Pharmacare that provides coverages for the 10 per cent of Canadians who are underinsured or uninsured.

The Spruce Grove and District Chamber of commerce wants the government to close the gaps on Pharmacare.

According to the Chamber, local businesses are asking the government to consider an approach to national Pharmacare that provides coverages for the 10 per cent of Canadians who are underinsured or uninsured.

Chamber CEO Brenda Johnson announced the Chamber will join hundreds of chambers of commerce and boards of trade from across the country in supporting a policy resolution put forward at the national Chamber of Commerce convention this past year. The resolution urges the government to bridge the gaps in the current Pharmacare system. The resolution received support from 97 per cent of those who voted.

“A national Pharmacare Program should focus on leveraging the strengths of the existing system to raise the bar for Canadians and improve health outcomes. It should not reduce the coverage enjoyed by most Canadians under the existing system, or result in coverage falling to the lowest common denominator,” said Johnson.

Johnson added most Canadians are covered under an existing private or group plan and are satisfied with the coverage they are provided. She said businesses in the Tri-Region do not believe it is fiscally responsible to increase public sector debt to pay for a single-payer system, when the existing system works for many Canadians.

Pharmacare Alberta estimates one in three of the provinces workers does not have health benefits, and only around 27 per cent of part time workers have prescription coverage. A total of 21 per cent of respondents to a nationally distributed survey said a person in their household did not take medication because they simply could not afford to.

“National Pharmacare must give Canadians an advantage over what the system currently offers. A filling in the gaps approach can identify ways to improve today’s patchwork of prescription drug coverage,” said Johnson.

This comes days after Dr. Eric Hoskins, chair of the advisory council on the implementation of national Pharmacare presented an interim report in Toronto on wednesday. The report did not deliver a recommendation on how the federal government can ensure all Canadians have access to coverage.

Hoskins did, however, say the current system of prescription drug coverage in Canada is inadequate, unsustainable, and leaves many Canadians behind.

“The business community is in strong agreement that national Pharmacare will provide the greatest value to all Canadians by focusing on those who do not have coverage and those who are underinsured. Instead of throwing out a system that is working for most Canadians, the federal government should use a national program to ensure no Canadian lacks in the medicine he or she needs,” said Johnson.